Knick Knacks

From a ClubDancer
Enio Cordoba, owner Granada Ballroom
Alhambra, California

Bobby Medeiros, a former U.S. Latin Dance Champion, likes to joke that whenever he is in a club in Miami, should a ballroom dancer show up, he’ll leave so as not to be embarrassed. Manny Gonzales said to beware of the International dancer.

"Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes.

Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence." ~ Erma Bombeck

Why are all these people saying such terrible things about those to whom dancing - if not a life pursuit - is an addiction as powerful as any drug known?

First, let’s identify this "ballroom dancer." You can usually spot these people right away in a night club. First, they carry their own shoes. Second, some of them will do a few knee bends to "warm up." Then as they take the floor, the man lifts his arms, the girl glides in his arm and they spend one third of the song adjusting their hold.

Next, the man will start visibly counting as he attacks the sought after second beat, like a guy trying to squash a fast moving cockroach. Usually he misses, so he stops, resets and does a restart. Finally, when he finds what he thinks is the second beat (probably anything but) he starts doing the wildest assortments of steps any Latino has ever seen.

These couples throw out their arms with a karate action that would have made Bruce Lee smile, and through the night, they keep bugging the band to play Cha Cha Chas and Rumbas and oh, by the way, how about some swing? What planet did these people come from?     *****

"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" By Dawn

Cuban Motion

A subtle but meaningful hip movement achieved by the bending and straightening of the knees with a carefully timed weight transfer. Very difficult for people accustomed to using the upper torso and the arms in dancing. The kids lost a lot of it in the transformation of Mambo to Salsa. Same as Rumba Motion.

Pub's Side Note:

The Limerick packs laughs anatomical

In a space that is most economical

But the ones that I’ve seen

So seldom are clean and

the clean ones so seldom are comical.